The Potential and the Actual
by kabensi
Summary: KennedyFaith fic - ff slash


TITLE: Slayer Thing Revisited - The Potential and the Actual  
  
AUTHOR: freelance spice  
  
EMAIL: freelancsepice@hotmail.com  
  
RATING: PG-13 - mostly for language  
  
SUMMARY: Kennedy and Faith take a trip down memory lane.  
  
NOTES: This was originally a response to a challenge, but it has become something else  
  
entirely. So, have a time with it. I like this idea, though, so I'm thinking it might become a  
  
series. But no promises. Unless I get a bunch of feedback saying y'all love it (hint, hint)  
  
FEEDBACK: See above.  
  
SPOILERS: Through Chosen. This takes place after the end of the series and the summer  
  
before season three.  
  
DISCLAIMER: Joss owns everything except the city of New York. I'm just using them. No  
  
animals were harmed in the making of this fan fic. "Rock You Like a Hurricane" belongs to  
  
the Scorpions.  
  
  
  
Cleveland - Fall - 2003  
  
Here I am. Rock you like a hurricane.  
  
The place was dark, grungy and the music was loud enough to knock your fillings loose  
  
after too long. But Faith didn't seem to notice. She came here to think. Or maybe just to  
  
drink. A semi-attractive blonde was wrapping her legs around the shiny silver pole and  
  
pulling herself up off the ground.  
  
That's some workout, Faith thought, pulling the cherry out of her appletini and popping it in  
  
her mouth. Usually she was a Jack and coke kind of girl, but lately she'd developed a  
  
sense of class. Or something.  
  
Kennedy entered the swanky strip joint, her eyes quickly adjusting to the dim lighting. After  
  
a moment, she spotted the Bostonian slayer in the back corner. She considered beelining  
  
for the girl, but instead, chose to stand and wait, wondering how long it would take Faith to  
  
notice her.  
  
Not long. Mere seconds after Kennedy's entrance, Faith sensed something and glanced  
  
toward the doorway. And then she glanced away. Too late. They'd already made eye  
  
contact. Her eyes shifted back to the other girl again. Busted.  
  
Kennedy raised her eyebrows. Faith shrugged.   
  
Shaking her head, the younger girl headed back to the table. "Are you gonna run off every  
  
time we have a disagreement?"  
  
"Maybe."  
  
"Jesus, Faith... " Kennedy shook her head. "I don't even know, anymore."  
  
Faith avoided the other woman's eyes.  
  
"Fine. When you decide that you're ready to communicate, you can find me." Kennedy  
  
began to move toward the door.  
  
The stripper had climbed to the top of the pole.  
  
Rock you like a hurricaaaaaaaaine.  
  
Faith sighed and called out to her girlfriend. "K..."  
  
The blonde on the pole began to swing in circles as she slid toward the ground. One of her  
  
stiletto heels shot of her foot and knocked Kennedy upside the head. Kennedy blinked.   
  
Faith jumped to her feet and caught the other girl before she hit the floor.  
  
"Fuckin' A." Faith looked down at the unconscious woman in her arms. This was  
  
ridiculous. They were slayers, designed to take on beasts and demons and ultimate evil...  
  
one hooker heel to the head and the girl was out cold.  
  
"Kennedy... come on. K... Can you hear me?"  
  
The younger girl's eyelids fluttered open.  
  
"There you are... you okay?"  
  
Kennedy rubbed her head. "I think so. What happened?"  
  
"Just a blow to the head. Nothin' new."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Look, about earlier... I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking. I was just being a jerk."  
  
"Earlier... um... I don't..." Kennedy looked puzzled. "Who are you?"  
  
-  
  
New York - Summer - 1998  
  
Faith sat under at a tree in Central Park, her nose buried in the Harry Potter book she'd  
  
found abandoned on the subway. She finished the chapter she was reading and closed the  
  
book. Poor Harry was still no match for the sixteen-year old's ADD. Faith glanced around  
  
the park.  
  
Nearby, a group of guys played football and a father and daughter practiced some kind of  
  
martial art. The girl wasn't too bad. Quite good, actually. She knocked the poor guy clean  
  
off his feet. Okay, now Faith was impressed. The girl looked to be about the same age as  
  
she was, maybe a little younger. There was something familiar about the pair, but she  
  
couldn't place what it was.  
  
"All right," said the man, his voice ringing with a clear British accent, "I think that's enough  
  
for today."  
  
"Aw, come on!" The girl didn't seem to have an accent. Maybe they weren't father and  
  
daughter. "Just a little longer, please?"  
  
"Honestly, I need to take a break."  
  
The girl laughed and adjusted her ponytail. She had long dark hair, almost the same color  
  
as Faith's. "Worn out, Nigel? You're not getting old on me, are you?"  
  
The man feigned offense. "Certainly not!" He smiled. "Go on, do something fun for a  
  
while."  
  
"But this is fun!"  
  
The man gave her s stern look. "Go. I'll meet you at the hotel in a few hours."  
  
It was at this point that Faith realized she had been staring. Quickly, she reopened her  
  
book and pretended to read, but she couldn't seem to focus enough to have anything make  
  
sense.  
  
"You must be really good at that."  
  
Faith looked up to find the girl standing no more than five feet away from her. "Uh... good at  
  
what?"  
  
"Reading... upside down."  
  
The Southie slayer examined the book in her hands. "I... uh..." This was odd. Faith was  
  
rarely ever at a loss for words. "I..."  
  
"Heads up!" A voice cut through the moment from across the park.  
  
Both brunettes glanced up to see a football spiraling toward them. Faith's first instinct was  
  
to grab the girl and pull her out of the way so she didn't end up with a Marcia Brady nose  
  
job, but before she could even react, the girl caught the ball and sent it whizzing back from  
  
whence it came.  
  
Faith was staring again. "Wow."  
  
"What? Never seen a girl throw a football before?"  
  
"No, it's not that... it's just... you're..." Dammit. Faith had no idea what was happening to  
  
her. She just recently been given a bunch of crazy superpowers by some cosmic force, but  
  
today she couldn't construct complete sentences. She stuffed the book in her backpack  
  
and pulled herself to her feet. "Hi."  
  
"Hi." The girl grinned. "I'm Kennedy."  
  
Faith repeated the name. "Kennedy." She liked it.  
  
Kennedy playfully cocked her head. "And you are...?"  
  
Faith searched her brain. She knew this one. "Um... Faith. I'm Faith."  
  
"You wanna get out of here, Faith?"  
  
One of the football guys approached the duo. He looked Kennedy over. "Nice... arm. That  
  
was some throw."  
  
"Thanks." Kennedy's reply was flat, disinterested.  
  
The guy leaned against the tree. He looked to be a little older, probably some college frat  
  
guy. "So, what are you ladies up to?"  
  
Faith inability to speak disappeared. "We were just leaving."  
  
Kennedy smirked and took Faith's arm. "See ya."  
  
They turned to walk away when they heard him mutter, "Fuckin' dykes."  
  
Faith spun around on her heel, ready to pop this guy in the jaw, but Kennedy was one step  
  
ahead of her.  
  
"What was that?" Kennedy stepped up to the guy.  
  
He shrugged. "You just haven't had the right man."  
  
"Riiiight. And I suppose you're the one."  
  
"Hell yeah."  
  
"And I'm assuming you could take care of us both at the same time. And we would wear  
  
sexy lingerie and stockings and garters and have a pillow fight."  
  
"Now we're talking."  
  
"What's your name?"  
  
"Rod."  
  
"Rod. That's manly."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"And, Rod, how old are you? Eighteen, nineteen...?"  
  
"Nineteen."  
  
"And you pick up on high school girls a lot?"  
  
"Sometimes."  
  
"Because you're so manly."  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Well, Rod, we're gonna go away now and do things you've only seen in streaming video."   
  
Faith's eyes widened at the words. "So, why don't you run along and play with your little  
  
buddies and we'll let the fact that you're a raging misogynist slide this time. Okay?"  
  
Kennedy turned and walked away.  
  
"Crazy bitch."  
  
She stopped. Faith looked at her with her pleading puppy dog eyes.   
  
Kennedy shrugged. "Go ahead."  
  
Faith grabbed the guy by the collar. "I really want to hit you. But I think I'm just going to  
  
throw you." She sent the guy skidding across the grass, back toward his buddies. She  
  
grabbed Kennedy's hand. "Let's go."  
  
The headed toward the south end of the park, where several horse drawn carriages were  
  
lined up.  
  
"I love these!" Kennedy dragged Faith toward the line-up. "Wanna go for a ride?"  
  
Faith had always wanted a carriage ride in Central Park, but she also knew it was a fifty-  
  
dollar ride. "Oh, I... I don't have much cash on me."  
  
"No worries. It's on me."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
Kennedy was sure and in less than five minutes they were rolling along with a driver named  
  
Buster and a horse named Mike.  
  
"Those were some moves you had back there. How long have you been studying?"  
  
"Since I was eight. My wat-" Kennedy caught herself, "...trainer says I'm the best he's  
  
seen."  
  
"What are you training for?"  
  
"Uh... competitions. Fights."  
  
"That's cool. I guess you must be pretty good for him to let you wander around by yourself."  
  
"Well, that's all part of the training."  
  
Faith nodded. If she didn't know better, she'd swear it sounded a lot like her own training.   
  
But she was a slayer and this girl was just someone else. Someone else who was really  
  
cute. And tough. And witty.  
  
"So what about you? Traveling with family?"  
  
"Not really. Well, kind of. I was traveling with a friend. But they..." Shit. Her watcher had  
  
briefly gone back to England to deal with some of the details of Faith's calling. "They had  
  
some business to take care of."  
  
They sat in silence as the driver told them various facts about the park and the city and the  
  
history of the world. Faith was more focused on the fact that Kennedy's hand on the seat  
  
next to her. Her heart rate had increased considerably in the last few minutes. This wasn't  
  
how Faith worked. If she spotted someone she thought was hot, she picked them up, took  
  
them back to wherever she called home at the time, got some and got gone. She was  
  
always in charge.  
  
Now, everything was backwards. This girl had picked her up. She was going back to her  
  
place. Faith needed more small talk.  
  
"So, um... you sure handled that asshole in the park. I would have just hit him. I was going  
  
to hit him."  
  
"I know. And I was going to let you, but my... trainer... prefers to keep me out of  
  
unnecessary fights."  
  
"But how'd you know I wouldn't hit him later?"  
  
Kennedy shrugged. "I didn't."  
  
Their pinkies were overlapping now. Faith could feel the reddish tint burning its way up her  
  
ears. This was too weird. She never blushed. She ever got flustered. Ever.  
  
Kennedy broke the silence. "So, where you staying?"  
  
"I was staying at this place midtown, but they didn't have any vacancy for the weekend. I'm  
  
kind of looking for somewhere at the moment."  
  
Pinkies. Fingers. Hands. They were holding hands.  
  
"Why don't you come stay with me?"  
  
"We just met."  
  
"And I like you. There's something about you. Almost like I know you."  
  
Faith knew what she meant. And she couldn't afford to pass up free lodging. "Okay, you  
  
talked me into it." Like she could have said no if she wanted to. Fifteen minutes with this  
  
girl and she was already gone.  
  
"Good." Kennedy glanced at the other girl. "You okay?"  
  
"Y-yeah... I'm fine. Great."  
  
"You seem... nervous."  
  
"No... me? Nervous? About what? I never get nervous." Until today.  
  
Kennedy let go of Faith's hand, and for a moment, the recently called slayer was worried  
  
she'd said something wrong. All worries were forgotten when the younger girl reached over  
  
and put her arm around her. This was all so foreign to her. Well, not all of it. She'd done  
  
the girl on girl thing before, but she'd always been the one to do the seducing. There had  
  
never been a girl specifically interested in her who wasn't already drunk.  
  
Kennedy's hand was now on her neck, playing with her hair. It was the kind of move that  
  
guys would make in a club or at a party that Faith would only put up with long enough to get  
  
what she wanted. Or it was the move she'd put on those drunk girls, who would put up with  
  
her long enough to get what they wanted.   
  
But right now, this could go on forever and still not be long enough. It was Faith's turn.   
  
She was used to being the instigator and she was ready to instigate something. She leaned  
  
toward the other girl, dark eyes searching dark eyes, breath mingling in the moment...   
  
"Okay, that's the tour." The carriage slowed to a stop.  
  
Faith groaned quietly. Kennedy's eyes reflected the same disappointment. Then she  
  
smirked. "Come on."  
  
Kennedy paid the driver and tipped him generously. Faith could tell this girl must come  
  
from money.   
  
"Where are you staying?"  
  
"The Plaza."  
  
-  
  
Yeah. The girl came from money, all right. Faith was standing in the most elaborate suite  
  
she'd ever seen. Heck, it was the only suite she'd ever seen.  
  
"You here with family?"  
  
"Nope. Just me and my trainer." Kennedy flopped down onto the sofa. "He wants me to  
  
see some exhibits at the Metro."  
  
"Your martial arts trainer wants you to see a bunch of art and old stuff?"  
  
"He's... uh... kind of a tutor, too."  
  
A British trainer/tutor. A girl who could possibly kick serious ass. Now things were getting  
  
Twilight Zone weird. "How old are you?"  
  
"Fifteen. Why?"  
  
"No reason." Faith examined the room around her. Punching bags, sparring equipment,  
  
old books. Really old books.   
  
"How old are you?"  
  
"Sixteen." It wasn't possible. Well, it was possible, but it would just be too strange. It was  
  
just a coincidence. Faith picked up one of the books on the coffee table.  
  
"Oh, that's just one of Nigel's... uh... he likes old stuff. Hence the museum trip." Kennedy  
  
tried to grab the book out of Faith's hand, but the older girl held it just out of reach.  
  
Kennedy put her hands on her hips.  
  
It was Faith's turn to smirk. "You want it? Come get it."  
  
Kennedy pounced on Faith, tackling her to the ground. The book skittered across the floor.   
  
Faith knew that if she wanted to, she could toss the girl aside. If she wanted to. Kennedy  
  
was straddling her, pinning the slayer's hands over her head. If they had been close in the  
  
carriage, they were even closer now. But Faith wanted to be the one to make the move.   
  
Slayer strength vs. mere potential equaled an exact reverse of the situation. Now Faith was  
  
on top. She hovered over the other girl for a beat, making sure that this was, in fact, what  
  
was supposed to happen and not just some silly flirtatious game that so many girls seemed  
  
to play. But Kennedy was serious.  
  
It began as a simple brush of lips, warm breath, a bit more pressure turned it into an actual  
  
kiss. Hesitant without being unsure. Innocent without being naive. Hands released wrists  
  
and searched bodies, groping... but not the rough, uncaring way that guys had groped in  
  
club and bars and backseats... and not in the careful uncertain way those sobering drunk  
  
girls did. This was different. This was someone who knew what they wanted and wouldn't  
  
deny it in the morning.  
  
The door to the suite swung open. Both girls scrambled to their feet to find Nigel entering  
  
the room.  
  
Kennedy smoothed out her shirt. "N-Nigel. I didn't know you'd be back so soon."  
  
"I was going to do some lesson planning on the-" Nigel stopped, finally noticing the other girl  
  
in the room. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize you had company."  
  
"It's cool." Faith sauntered over to the Englishman. "Faith."  
  
"Good to meet you." Nigel paused. "Wait a minute. Faith... you wouldn't be from Boston,  
  
would you?"  
  
"Yeah..."  
  
"You're Stephanie Turner's slayer."  
  
"Yeah." So, it wasn't all coincidence. This girl was in training and this guy was her  
  
watcher.  
  
"Wait," Kennedy stepped in. "Slayer? You're the slayer? I thought the slayer was in  
  
Sunnydale."  
  
Nigel bobbed his head. "Well, she is. Don't you remember anything from your non-combat  
  
lessons?" Kennedy shrugged. Nigel sighed. "The slayer 'died' and the next was called.   
  
But the slayer was resuscitated and allowed for two slayers to co-exist. The more recent  
  
slayer was killed earlier this year, thus resulting in the calling of Faith."  
  
Faith nodded. "That's me in a nutshell."  
  
"This is extraordinary, Kennedy. A chance to consort with an actual slayer."  
  
"Yeah... consort. I'm really looking forward to that." Kennedy winked at the older girl.   
  
"She's gonna stay with us while we're here, all right, Nigel?"  
  
"Certainly. Maybe she can give you some insight on actual field work. If you don't mind, I'm  
  
going to make a few calls." Nigel disappeared into one of the bedrooms.  
  
"So... slayer, " Kennedy whispered seductively, "You wanna give me some insight on 'actual  
  
field work'?"  
  
Faith swallowed. "Oh, hell yeah."  
  
The potential pulled the actual into her bedroom and shut the door.  
  
-  
  
"And then what happened?" Kennedy sipped her glass of water, still holding the ice pack to  
  
the bump on her head.  
  
Faith sighed. "Then we talked strategies and read a few books."  
  
Kennedy narrowed her eyes. "We did not. I threw you on the bed and ripped open your  
  
shirt while you... I mean... wait... who are you?"  
  
Faith shook her head, "You bitch. You knew who I was the whole time, didn't you?"  
  
Kennedy started laughing. "I'm sorry. I had to get even." Faith turned away from the other  
  
slayer. Kennedy grabbed her hand. "Aw, come on, sweetie..."  
  
Faith caved in and turned back to her girlfriend. "Don't do that... EVER AGAIN." She  
  
grabbed the other girl and kissed her.  
  
After the kiss broke, Kennedy looked thoughtful.  
  
Faith furrowed her eyebrows. "What?"  
  
"I was just thinking about doing some 'actual field work'. You game?"  
  
"Oh, hell yeah." 


End file.
